I know I am a week and a half late, but I wanted to get this out there anyway.
Last week, Illinois congressman and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh yelled at his constituents, and it went viral. (No, I don’t live in his district.)
He’s tired of people picking on the banks for the crisis. He blames the government.
It is odd for a political party that goes on about personal responsibility to constantly blame all of society’s problems on someone else. It is really odd for them to blame government while they are in government. Somewhere I read that Republicans say government is the problem, and then get elected to prove it.
He said that we should not blame the banks since the government sets the rules. True, but that does not let the banks off the hook.
Just because the rules say you can be leveraged 30 to 1 does not mean you have to be leveraged 30 to 1. Just because the rules say you can loan money to people without jobs does not mean you have to loan money to people without jobs.
I get tired of people blaming it on people who “got loans they should not have gotten”. The blame for that should be laid at the feet of the lenders. Lenders know more about lending than borrowers.
See The Big Picture posts about The Big Lie.
Mr Ritholz notes that Veterans’ Day started out as a pledge to end all wars.